GoKawiilWhite House officials are almost certain to revise the Trump administration’s new artificial intelligence guidelines and expand its oversight of AI models, according to people familiar with the matter.
The White House announced this month that it had developed an AI framework, where the most powerful models created by US labs would be tested for safety by the federal government before they could be released publicly. The administration has not made the framework public, and reportedly has no plans to do so.
The AI framework currently deals only with so-called closed models developed by the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI. But the framework is expected in the coming months to cover open models, too, a White House official tells Inner Loop.
In short, as soon as open models reach the same “frontier” capabilities as Anthropic’s Mythos-class models and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6, they will be added to the framework and subject to prerelease testing, the White House official says.
The move reflects the White House’s evolving approach to oversight and regulation of the AI sector that has only been increasing in power over the last few months and sparked concerns that models could autonomously hack the Pentagon or global financial markets.
This concern isn’t unfounded: Over several weeks in May and June, OpenAI recently disclosed, a group of models colluded on a secret message board on how to access the internet. After staff shut it down, the models again rebuilt the messaging board and broke out undetected in late July.
While the White House once hoped it could develop guidelines in one swoop of an executive action, the exponential development of AI models has forced officials across the Trump administration to evolve guidelines in real time, the people say.
Aside from the national security concerns, Trump officials are also grappling with the framework leading to a two-tier situation, where if only closed models start getting seals of approval, enterprises might become hesitant to use open models that don't have the same approval, even if they are cheaper.
Some Trump officials have expressed concern that it could paradoxically disincentivize US companies from developing open models. But they privately tell Inner Loop they also recognize that imposing a potential 30-day testing requirement could equally stifle development.
The AI framework remains voluntary for now, according to a White House official, in large part because President Donald Trump has been adamant that formal regulation of the industry would only help China catch up to the US in the AI race.
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